Crooked Smile
by bearsbeetsbattlestargalactica
Summary: Kai is alone and bereft on New Year's Eve, only to be surprised by an unexpected - but very welcome - visitor. Kai/Cinder fluff in honor of New Year's! Disclaimer: I do not own the Lunar Chronicles, nor do I lay claim to any of its consequent subsidiaries.


**A/N: Here's a bit of Cinder/Kai fluff to brighten up your holidays in honor of New Year's Day! Happy 2016, everyone!**

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Crooked Smile

Kai watches the fireworks explode, little tendrils of sparks trailing their way across the inky black sky. They're every color tonight – red and orange and blue and white, and probably even more tossed into the mix. He's been hearing the hype about New Year's for days. Party planners and decorators have been swarming around the palace for weeks, trailing thin, papery streamers from room to room and blowing up squeaky plastic balloons.

Kai glances at his half-empty glass. A trail of amber liquid is dribbling down the side of the glass, a stray bit of liquor leaking onto his mahogany desk. Kai grimaces and lifts the cup to his lips, effectively downing the last of the alcohol in one horrible, throat-burning last hurrah. He grimaces. _Dolt,_ he thinks.

Kai shoots a glance at the bottle of liquor sitting on the corner of his desk. He could've sworn it was nearly full when he started drinking, but now there's a rather disheartening dent in the bottle. Kai laughs a bit, raking a hand through his hair. It's enough of a dent to make the world a bit fuzzy, though he doesn't feel completely disoriented yet. He'll take it as a victory, small, sad, and pathetic though it may be.

 _Definitely pathetic,_ he corrects, looking out the window. A purple firework explodes, and he hears the crowd of people cheer, hands thrown up in the air. He glances at the clock on his desk: 23:57. Three minutes until midnight, then.

It's New Year's Eve, and Kai isn't feeling particularly cheery, probably worsened by the amount of scotch in his system. Scotch always makes him teary; it's vodka that makes him throw his head back and let out a whoop of laughter. He should be drinking vodka, but he isn't in the mood, not tonight.

Kai stares forlornly at his glass. The Eastern Commonwealth didn't use to celebrate this New Year – their New Year was sometime in February, back in the second era, not in January. _But then again,_ he thinks somewhat dryly, _things have changed_. Almost instinctively, his eyes go to the silvery moon hanging low in the sky. It's half-obscured by a cloud tonight, and Kai feels his heart constrict painfully in his chest.

He knew it wouldn't be easy. He knew it from the start. Some part of him always knew that being a world away from Cinder wouldn't be easy, but nothing could have prepared him for _this._ Nothing could have prepared him for a lifetime of sleeping alone in his bed, staring out the window, gaze fixated on the moon, wondering if she's thinking about him too.

It's been months since Cinder was made queen. Kai puts his head in his hands, feeling a warm tear trickle down his cheek. It's not her fault – Luna's in a state of upheaval, and not everyone is taking it as well as could be expected. The Eastern Commonwealth isn't much better, what with the havoc Levana caused with her crazy wolf-mutant soldiers. He only moved back into the war-torn palace a little under a month ago.

 _It's not her fault,_ Kai repeats to himself. _She would be here if she could._

It's a mantra that he's been repeating for weeks now, and it's getting harder and harder to believe. His stomach twists. What's that old second era tradition, again? To kiss someone the moment the year on the clock changes? For what, Kai can't quite remember. For luck, perhaps. It doesn't seem to matter, not now.

All Kai can think about is Cinder. Somewhere, floating over Earth, Thorne is holding Cress tight, ready to kiss him. Somewhere in France, Scarlet is stroking Wolf's cheek, ready to kiss him. Somewhere in Artemisia, Winter is smiling at Jacin, making his knees go weak, thirty seconds away from a kiss.

But Kai is stuck here, in New Beijing Palace, a world away from Cinder. No such thing as a kiss for him on New Year's. His eyes go first to the bottle of scotch, then to the clock: 23:59. The citizens below have started chanting, counting down to the New Year.

 _New year. New beginnings,_ Kai thinks. That's all the bullshit associated with the New Year, isn't it? New year, new beginning, new resolution, new, new, new?

" _Thirty,"_ the crowd outside his office chants. Kai swallows, reaching for the bottle. " _Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven. Twenty-six."_

Then, a voice comes from behind Kai.

"Hey, stranger."

Kai goes rigid. _Twenty-three. Twenty-two._ Slowly, he turns around in his chair, hardly daring to hope, to believe. He warns his heart firmly not to hope, but it does anyway.

There she is. Cinder. She's Selene now, Queen Selene Blackburn of Luna, but she'll always be Cinder to Kai. She's standing there in a loose-fitting shirt and sleek black pants, a thousand times more elegant than when he first met her. _Gotta keep up appearances,_ she'd told him once, shortly after taking the throne, frowning a bit.

But now she's smiling. Cinder has never been the traditional kind of beautiful; she's never been buxom and reed-thin, with thick hair and a curvy smile, but she's always been beautiful to Kai, and nothing has changed in that respect. Cargo pants and a grease-stained t-shirt or a silk, seed-pearl ballgown, she'll always be beautiful to him. Her maple-colored hair falls in smooth waves around her face, and her lips are turned up in a smile – not quite curvy, just a little crooked.

It's enough to make him leap out of his seat. He stumbles a bit, and he hears Cinder laugh. _Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen…_

And then she's in his arms, safe and sound and warm and smelling of lavender, her warm brown eyes turned up to his. "You're here," Kai whispers, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against hers.

 _Ten, eleven…_ "Did you really think I wouldn't be?" Cinder asks, cupping his cheek with her hand. She smiles at him, that same crooked smile that always drives him up the wall.

"Stars," Kai says. "You're _here._ "

 _Six, five…_

"I'm here," says Cinder simply. "I'm here."

 _Three, two, one…_

And then Kai has his mouth on hers, and his hands are in her hair, messing her brown tendrils into a horrible catastrophe of knots. She's kissing him back, and he hears her noise of surprise when she tastes his lips. _Scotch, love,_ Kai thinks, and almost giggles like a schoolgirl. Instead, he kisses her harder, pulling him toward him as if he never intends to let her go.

Perhaps he doesn't. Kai isn't too sure of anything anymore.

 _"_ _Happy New Year!"_ the crowd shouts outside, and he hears a thousand whoops of delight echo through New Beijing, throughout the world, until the cries can be heard from Luna.

They break apart. Kai takes some satisfaction in seeing Cinder's eyes hazy, her pupils dilated, her hair mussed, her lips just a little swollen. He sucks in a breath as Cinder leans in again, pulling him by his shirt collar.

"I love you," Kai says, somewhere in-between kisses.

"I love you, too," Cinder says, taking a step back. Her thumb traces his lips, and Kai inhales sharply. She grins. _Crooked smile,_ he thinks. She laughs a bit. "You're drunk, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Kai says, kissing her briefly. "Definitely," he decides, smashing his lips to hers again. She laughs, and Kai holds her tight while a hundred fireworks burst into multicolored sparks outside his window.

Kai isn't naïve enough to think that everything between them is fixed – he knows it's far from it. There's a thousand different things to work through. They're ruling two different countries broken by an expanse of thin air and white stars. Their relationship will never be easy, and this is only the beginning.

But for now, this is enough. Just having her in his arms, holding her tight, kissing her and whispering _again and again and again_ how much he loves her, because who knows when he'll get another chance…

For now, it's enough.

"Happy New Year, love," Kai whispers.

"Happy New Year," Cinder says, smiling that same old crooked smile.

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 **A/N: Happy New Year! Review and share your thoughts! :)**


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